


It was never as simple as friendship

by Laramie



Series: Things you said [11]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Established Relationship, Happy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 02:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4770374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompted by todowntononanimpala.</p>
    </blockquote>





	It was never as simple as friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by todowntononanimpala.

**March 1924**

"When did it start?" Thomas asked, after they had been together for just over four months.

Jimmy had struggled with feelings of shame at first, but Thomas had been endlessly patient and, well, Jimmy could not help but love him.

"When did what start?" Jimmy asked, turning his head to look at Thomas. The grass tickled his ear.

"You… loving me," Thomas replied, and even upside-down Jimmy could read the shy pride on his face. It was an unseasonably warm day, so the two of them had gone for a wander across the fields before lying back on the grass in an empty pasture, legs stretching out in opposite directions.

Jimmy was silent for a moment, considering, and they examined each other's faces.

"Was it before Isaac?" Thomas asked.

Jimmy felt a smile spread across his face uncontrollably. It had been _so_ much longer than that, though it had taken him a long while to see it, and even longer to accept it. "I don't think it's ever been as simple as friendship between us," he confessed. "Though I didn't always know it."

Thomas smiled, slowly blinked his lovely grey eyes, and leaned in for a kiss. It felt very odd, to kiss Thomas upside down, with each top lip matched to the other's lower lip and Jimmy's nose brushing Thomas's chin. Jimmy raised his arm behind his head to tangle his fingers through Thomas's hair.

After they had broken the kiss and returned to gazing up at the endless sky, Jimmy shuffled his head closer until their cheeks were touching. It was peaceful there, with only birdsong and creaking branches reaching their ears. "Do you ever think about leaving here?" Jimmy asked. "I know you tried that black market stuff but that was ages ago. Do you still want to?"

"Do I ever!" Thomas replied wistfully.

"Me _too_ ," Jimmy said fervently, rubbing his cheek against Thomas's.

"I know _you_ do," Thomas said, a streak of amusement in his tone that was a mile wide. "Itchy feet, that's what you've got."

"I want to spend my days doing something more exotic than lyin' in a field, even if it is with you."

"Like what?" Thomas asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"I don't know," Jimmy sighed honestly, his eyes tracking a cloud as it wandered across the sky. "Just somethin'. At least somethin' where I can spend me own time in me own way. Dawn 'til bloody dusk we work, and later. There's no time to enjoy ourselves - even if we have time off we have to ask Carson's permission to breathe. We're still young, aren't we? Well," he amended, in a teasing voice - "some of us are."

"Cheeky," Thomas retorted, turning his head to bestow Jimmy with a mock-glare at close quarters.

Briefly, Jimmy kissed the smirk.

"You should save up," Thomas said after a moment.

"What for?"

"Whatever you want to do. You always spend your wages on things which may be fun in the short term but leave you trapped here."

"It's so _bor-ing_ ," Jimmy groaned, throwing one arm over his face. "But wait," he added, as Thomas's words sunk in. "Would - well - you know, I'd like you to come too."

"You would?" Thomas said, the vulnerability that he tried so hard to hide creeping out, as it sometimes did.

"I would," Jimmy confirmed. "So get saving."


End file.
